CHAPTER THREE

Returning back to the Dream Gate, Will decided to take a load off and sit down by the empty fountain. He lay on his back, looking up at the stars and seeing if he could pick out any constellations that were familiar to him.

After fifteen minutes of silence, Owl re-appeared from nowehrre and flapped over, sitting by the Visitor.

"That Octopaw was…rather weird." Will remarked.

Hey, weird is the new normal! They heard the narrator cry out.

"Don't upset the Octopaw, he may look nasty but he's really quite easily frightened. He is a harmless Maren, I assure you."

"Maren?" Will asked.

"Yes, there are Maren, Nightopians and Nightmaren. Maren are the creatures in-between Nightopians and Nightmarens, neither good nor bad. Speaking of Nightopians…" Owl rubbed his chin. "I've heard that recently Dandelion Island Nightopians are becoming spooked. I hope it's nothing serious."

"They really can't defend themselves too well." NiGHTS admitted, hovering by as he sat on an invisible chair of sorts. "Luckily I'm always here to help!

"Dandelion Island?" Will asked. "Oh, I love Dandelions! Can we go?"

NiGHTS grinned. "I thought you'd never ask! Take my hand Will…"

SOON…

Will stepped out into the light and saw it…a beautiful, lush field with tall green grass. A few trees and shrubs grew here and there, true, and there were large mountains in the distance, along with cliffs that had gigantic waterfalls pouring down them, allowing crystal clear water to flow down. But what caught his eye were the Dandelions.

They were ENORMOUS. They towered over him, as tall as trees, ready to spread their puffy white seeds across the valley as they gently blew back in the breeze. Nightopians flew through the air, happily cheering and playing as they bounced on top of the dandelions.

Ooh, look at the SIZE of them! I just LOVE dandelions!

"You too, eh?" NiGHTS asked. "You should try jumping on the top, it's quite fun y'know!"

"The Nightopians sure look happy!" Will said, stepping forward. "You know, near my house there's a park where all the dandelions grow. My dad used to take me there to play all the time!"

"Your dad?" NiGHTS asked, tilting his head.

"Yeah, my dad, you know…don't you…have a father, NiGHTS?" Will asked, turning around. He looked sympathetically at NiGHTS.

NiGHTS crossed his arms. He sighed. "Oh, a father…well…I suppose you…you COULD call him that." He remarked absentmindedly.

"Well what kind of person is he?" Will asked.

NiGHTS's expression suddenly became pained. It was as if he wanted to say something, but…couldn't, just couldn't. Then suddenly little cries rippled through the air.

"What's going on?" Will asked, turning around. Suddenly they saw it…a whirling, swirling vortex of black and purple roared like a hurricane in the air, disrupting the balance of the area.

"Look, Will!" NiGHTS shouted, pointing with a finger. The Nightopians were soaring up, up, into the abyss.

"Oh no, they're getting sucked in!" Will gasped.

"Come on Will, we have to save them! We can use my Paraloop to get them somewhere safe!" NiGHTS said. "My twinkle dust will send them to the Dream Gate, away from this vortex!"

"Right, let's dualize!" Will said, and the two held each other's hands together. A flash of shining light, and they had combined all over again.

"Let's do this." NiGHTS/Will said, rushing at the Nightopians.

One by one the poor little guys were being sucked up, trying in vain to hold onto the large dandelions or the ground below, but the vortex was simply stronger than their small little bodies. Luckily for them, NiGHTS reacted quickly. He soared through the air, Drill Dashing towards the nearest group of Nightopians and then swirling around it, doing a paraloop. In a puff of twinkle dust, they vanished.

MEANWHILE…

Owl, who was reading a book by Sigmund Freud, gasped as a Nightopian popped out of the sky and bonked him on the head before landing right in his lap, knocking the book onto the ground.

"Ooh! NiGHTS, what did I do to deserve this?" He groaned.

BACK TO PURE VALLEY…

"Uh oh!" One of the little guys shouted as he hung onto a floating dandelion seed that was soaring up into the abyss. Just before he entered it, NiGHTS paralooped around him, sending him to the Dream Gate.

"Come on Will, faster, faster!" NiGHTS shouted. They soared through the air towards a particularly large group of Nighttopians and paralooped around them, transporting them.

"This could take a while!" Will shouted. "But we've got to keep going!"

MEANWHILE…

"I say, please-please stop tugging on my wings!" Owl protested. "Mr. Narrator, A WORD!?"

Now hold on, Will and NiGHTS will be done soon enough!

BACK TO PURE VALLEY…

The dandelions were whipping back and forth as the vortex picked up speed. Seeds and Nightopians and grass chunks were flying up like mad, but NiGHTS and Will would not give up. They continued to loop around the Nightopians, sending them to the Dream Gate.

"Keep it up, Will, we're doing it, we're doing it!" NiGHTS shouted. They paralooped around another group and finally came to a halt in midair.

"Phew…I think that's it!" Will said.

"And the vortex seems to be dying down." NiGHTS remarked, pointing up into the sky as the black abyss slowly but surely vanished into nothingness. "I wonder how Owl is doing?"

The two of them undualized and headed back for the door that would take them to the Dream Gate. As soon as they opened it a bright line shone, blinding them…

And then they were greeted by the sight of dozens of Nightopians, all bouncing around and playing. A large group had arranged themselves like a pyramid, another group was climbing up a tree and shimmying up and down it, while Owl chased after one particular group of rascals had had taken his book.

"No-no-no, give me back my book! I say, you should respect your elders!" He hollered.

NiGHTS and Will began to laugh. They heard the narrator join in.

Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa! Oh, it feels good to laugh so much!

"I say, this is serious, give me back my book!"

The Nightopians suddenly came to a stop, the turned around, handing the book back to Owl, who took it eagerly and lay back down on the fountain's edge.

"Thank you, Mr. Narrator." He said, looking up at the stars.

Oh, it's no biggie, really. I'm here to help, remember?

Will and NiGHTS had split back up again. NiGHTS stood on top of the platform, playing his invisible flute, which caused all of the Nightopians to look up at him. The narrator laughed happily, and they saw him descending on his star once again.

"In the night…dream delight…I want to see you standing there! In the night…dream delight…I found someone who really cares!" He sang out.

"Ooh, you've got a nice voice!" NiGHTS complimented.

The teenager blushed a little. "Gee, uh…thanks, mahalo, it means quite a bit coming from you."

"Mahalo?" Will asked.

"Oh, it's Hawaiian. You should visit Hawaii sometime, my ohana would love to see you NiGHTS, especially Jumba…he'd probably want to dissect you, but still…"

"Ohana? Jumba?"

"Oh, Jumba's like my uncle, and ohana means family." The teen explained. "The bonds of family are really important."

Will blinked a few times. Then he nodded. "Yeah, they…they are…" He thought to himself.

"Say…I wish to ask you something." Owl remarked. "Narrators are specially chosen Dreamers…usually something separates Narrators from normal Dreamers…what makes you different? Is there something we should know about you?"

The teenager blinked. "Well…it's like this…"

He brushed his hair back. "I was at one point a simple enough kid going into high-school, an ordinary freshman that was visiting a movie with his family…then they get sucked into the silver screen. So I do what anybody else would have done, I rushed in after them."

He clenched his fist and grinned. "Well, I eventually got them back…but I continued to go on adventure after adventure. My most recent experience was with a dear group of friends who's world was defended by the Blue Blur himself…Sonic the Hedgehog."

NiGHTS blinked. "Sonic…the…Hedgehog? Somehow that name's VERY familiar!"

"Anyhow…let me tell you what happened. I had managed to acquire ownership of a superstore, and I had selected a crew to run it. I was doing great business…"

Nick told them his story. Of fights with robots and monsters, facing down a watery god, outsmarting a so-called "evil genius", helping two hedgehogs go out on a date, befriending somebody who had once been hated by all…

"And then, there I was, with three psychopathic and sadistic robots attacking my superstore, and Ray was trapped inside? Did I tremble with fear? DID I? NO! I chaos-controlled myself right in, rushed up the stairs and teleported Ray right out, and then, just as I did so I looked out a hole that had been knocked open during the onslaught and I saw Metal preparing to fire an incredible weapon. He let it loose at me, I shielded myself, and then oblivion welcomed me with open arms…I found myself surrounded by beautiful stars a moment later and landed here…in Nightopia, which was a good thing and a WAAAAY better choice than being really most sincerely dead!" Nick laughed, brushing his hair back.

"…you're very melodramatic." Owl remarked.

"You're a very interesting person!" NiGHTS remarked cheerfully.

"You're kind of weird, but I think we can trust you." Will said.

"Well thanks, Will. Say, there's this one part of Pure Valley you might want to visit..."

Author's Note:

Until I begin to conquer my Sonic-inspired writer's block, I shall continue to update this story at least weekly. Excelsior!